Sunday morning turned us into mountain bikers as we bumped over a mile of mountain bike trail from the AMC campground to the Blue Hills headquarters and trailhead. Niether Isaac nor I know much about mountain biking but the mountain bikers we know of are always proud of thier injuries so we both made sure to fall off our bikes once. It was an overcast day with moderate temperature but the sun did come out for us near the top of Great Blue Hill and we enjoyed out first Boston skyline view of the day looking from the tower into Boston where we were soon headed.

Hiking in our matching Tour de Dance shirts prompted a few questions from outgoing hikers which have is the opportunity to tell new people about dancing. Wouldn’t it be thrilling if the trip recruited a new dancer!

Our free food expended, it was time for a Fernandez Brothers bike trip tradition: breakfast at Dunkin. Then we pedaled to Boston encountering both our first city traffic and first hills of the trip. We met with those joining us on the harbor cruise for dinner and then boarded the boat.

Sunset was muted by a low overcast sky but a TV show being shot on board our boat added an element of entertainment to an otherwise relaxing ride on the water. Here we got our second unique vantage point on Boston’s architecture as the sky darkened and the buildings lit up.

Disembarking, we were unable to resist the draw to the North End’s pastries and so we had plenty of energy for the late night ride. I always enjoy summer night riding and this was a perfect example of a cool and comfortable summer evening where even in downtown Boston it felt like we had the roads to ourselves. From the bike paths along the river we took one more survey of the skyline.